There's a great movie to be made about the survivors of Woodstock Nation and their children. But in order to make that movie, you first have to respect the ideals of that generation enough to at least give them their due.

Pop songs, beautiful bucolic scenery and the joy of watching Jane Fonda fizz in a fun role that looks like a no-brainer are elements that a skilled director like Australia's polished Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy) blends with perfection.

The fact that Grandma is played by Jane Fonda, flouncing around in natural fabrics, should tell you something. It should tell you there is no casting decision or character nuance or plot turn too obvious to indulge.

A touchy daughter and her feely mom form the emotional axis of Peace, Love, & Misunderstanding, a touching, feeling, touchy-feely series of emotional encounters that generate much warmth in Bruce Beresford's balloon-light family comedy. If it were any lighter, it would float away.

Keener alone finds the truth between the lines of this routine affair. She can't do much about the lines she has to say out loud, but as all first-rate screen performers realize, words are only part of the story.

So let's hear it for the giant wig of Pre-Raphaelite gray corkscrews planted on the noggin of Jane Fonda as a glamorous hippie grandma. The hairdo meets its match in the dull Ann Taylor togs encasing Catherine Keener: That's how you know Granny's daughter is an uptight lawyer.

Yow, this was a dreary, long, contentious ride. A modern story about families in a culture clash is my thing, but this had no one in it toYow, this was a dreary, long, contentious ride. A modern story about families in a culture clash is my thing, but this had no one in it to root for. Everyone was an unyielding stereotype and stayed that way against all odds. Drippy script, predictable traumas, mediocre acting. And it is a marketing ploy to call it a comedy. City people meet tie-dyed, small town inhabitants.....with indoor chickens.... surely this is hilarious. IT is not. I gave it a three for nice scenery and reasonable photography.…Full Review »

It's hard to believe (and rather depressing) that a director who created such a beautiful, subtle movie as Tender Mercies could have devolvedIt's hard to believe (and rather depressing) that a director who created such a beautiful, subtle movie as Tender Mercies could have devolved into one who creates such over-the-top, un-involving charactertures and stereotypes as the ones portrayed in this movie. It just goes to show (as if we didn't know) that Hollywood can turn anyone into a philistine. It was interesting to see Jane Fonda show such a commitment to her character, even when that character is a characterture (in fact, a characterture of her own youthful characterture, hence a meta-characterture). Not a great job of acting, but an impressively unselfconscious performance nonetheless. On the plus side, Elizabeth Olsen confirms the fact that even in an underdeveloped and stereotypical role she has a great movie presence (and is more than a credible actress). On the other hand, Jerry Garcia must be turning over in his grave (he was buried, wasn't he?) at the surfeit of tie-dying in this movie. Finally, the most egregious sin of the movie is the underlying Hollywood "lesson" that "romance conquers all"-- substantive political differences, bad parenting, bad hair-dos, everything is secondary to romance. And here I was trying to find the meaning of life in Nietzsche, Marx, Sartre...and it was all there in a Beatles lyric. "All you need is love"!…Full Review »